Die Vereinigung Deutschlands - ein weltpolitisches Machtspiel

Alexander von Plato

"There is by now a very familiar received narrative of German reunification, one that began to coalesce immediately upon the fall of the Berlin Wall. Even before the files of most of the state offices, the foreign ministers, and the secret services were opened, television productions, radios, and newspapers, began painting a picture of reunification and the end of the Cold War in which the people of the GDR, as part of a movement for citizens' rights, and with the support of the 'master strategist' Gorbachev, in a short time achieved its freedom and joined with West Germany to form a new republic with a bright future. The historical and contemporary truth is, of course, much more complex and elusive. This carefully researched history draws on archival sources as well as a wealth of new interviews with on-the-ground activists, political actors, international figures, and others to move...